Compromise rail-joint.



R. A. WILLSON.

COMPROMISE RAIL JOINT. APPLlCATlON FILED JULY 10.:916.

1,279,813. Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

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RUSSELL A. WILLSON, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOIR, TO THEItAIL JOINT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.-

COMPBOMISE nAIL-Joiu'r.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

Application filed July 10, 1916. Serial No. 108,395.

This invention relates to an improvement in rail joints of the compromise or step type, which are employed to connect the abutting ends of dissimilar rails of difierent height and section.

The object of the invention is to simplify the construction of bars for step-joints without impairing the utility or efiicienc-y thereof. To this end the invention primarily has in view an improvement which obviates the manufacturing difficulties involved in the making of the conventional step-joint bars of relatively heavy steel or malleable iron castings, and to provide a form of bar which can be made by the ordinary rolling mill processes, from rolled steel.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a step-joint bar having improved struc-' tural characteristics which permit the same to be made relatively light and of substantially uniform thickness throughout, while also providing a supplementary girder support for the smaller rail,adj acent the center of the joint. This feature is intended to give a substantial center reinforcement with a minimum amount of material.

A further object of the invention is to have the supplementary support present its edge to the downward thrust or pressure of the smaller rail, and hence resisting the bending strains in a most effective manner. Thus, the rail joint, at the central part thereof, will possess approximately the stiffness obtained from a deep girder section, regardless of the fact that there may be a very great difierence in the height of the two dissimilar rails which are fastened together.

With these and other objects in view which will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

The essential features of the invention involved in carrying out the foregoing objects are necessarily susceptible of structural modification without departing from.

the spirit of the invention, but a preferred and practical illustration thereof appears in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a compromise or step rail joint constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the joint on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the joint, through the larger rail, on the line of section indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1,

Fig. f is a similar sectional view through the smaller rail of the joint on the line ii-'4: of Fig. 1. 7

Similar references designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawmgs.

In carrying out the invention, the improved features of construction are applicable to different forms of joint bars, and hence available for use with fish plates, plain angle bars, angle bars of the continuous type, channel bars, or any of the divers forms of splices which connect the rails. However, for the purpose of illustration the invention is shown in the drawings in its simpler form, that is, with joint bars of the conventional fish-plate type. Referring to this embodiment of the invention, it will be observed from the drawings that the improved compromise joint includes the dissimilar rails 1 and 2, of different height and section, the usual joint bolts 3, and the oppositely arranged joint bars 1. The distinctive features of the invention reside in the particular construction of these bars to provide for stepping and alining the two rails, while at the same time securing the advantages already indicated. Primarily, each of these bars 4:, regardless of the design thereof, is formed with two fishingspace members 5 and 6 of different heights and respectively adapted to fit the fishing spaces of the larger and smaller rails of the joint. To provide for this, each of the fishing space members 5 and 6 is provided at the top edge with the upper bearing surface 7 adapted to engage the under side of the rail head, and at the bottom with the lower bearing surface 8, adapted to have a bearcontact with the upper side of the rail base flange.

In addition to the two fishing space memhers and (3 of different height, each of the splice bars is provided at the top with a centrally disposed vertical offset 7 which compensates for the difference in depth between the heads of the two rails and permits the bar to take a direct bearing against the under side of the heads of both rails, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 3 and at of the drawings. And, in order tocompensate for the difference in thickness between the webs of the two rails, one of the joint bars is also providedat the center thereof with a lateral offset, as indicated at 8 in Figs. 2 and 4: of the drawings, said lateral offset permitting the bar to have a proper fishing in the fishing spaces of "both rails at the outer side of the joint.

An important feature of the invention resides in the supplementary support afforded the smaller rail adjacent the center of the joint. This supplementary support is provided for by forming each joint bar, adj acent the center thereof, with a horizontally disposed holding socket 9 for the base flange of the smaller rail. In the simpler and preferable form of construction, shown in the drawings, this holding socket 9 extends longitudinally .of the bar for only a part-0f its length, to thereby receive one end portion of the base flange portion of the smaller rail. The said .socketimay be formed in various -.ways, but preferably by milling out a horizontal notch .01 slot corresponding in width to the thickness of the rail flange to be received therein, and by reason of this construction there is formed :below the socket a relatively short longitudinally disposed base-supiporting girder element 10, constituting an 'integralextension from the inner end portionof the deeper fish-ingspace member 5.

It will :be noted that the said base-supporting girder element 10 of each joint bar lies in a substantially vertical plane, so as to present its upper edge for supporting contact with the :base or bottom of the smaller rail for a substantial distance under one end portion of such rail. Therefore, as will be copies f this patent may b obta n d for fine cents each,

seen from Figs. 1 and i of the drawings, the girder elements 10 of the two bars will a f ford a substantial base support for the smaller rail, adjacent the center of the joint, and thus resist the downward thrust or pressure of the rail to a material extent, with the resultof adding to the stiffness and strength of the joint at the center. Also it will be ob served that the (girder member 10 terminates short of theend of the fishing space member for the smaller .ra'il, thereby not only resulting in a greater economy of metal but permitting the joint ties for supporting the smaller rail to be placed under the rail closer to the iniddleof the joint than would ordinarily be possible. Thus, the ,-re'lati-Vely short girder member 10 provides for a joint tie space beneath the smaller rail adjacent the middle of the joint.

From the foregoing it is thought that-the construction and advantages of the herein-' described improved step-joint bars will now be apparent without further description, and it will be understood that changes in the form, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I claim:

A compromise rail joint including the dissimilar rails and opposite splice Ebars, each splice bar having separate fishing space members of different height, and also having a. socket adjacent the middle of the joint providing a base supporting girder for the smaller rail, the said base supportii-ig girder being shorter than the fishing space member for the smaller rail to provide a joint tie space for the latter adjacent the middle of the joint.

in testimony whereof 1 hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

RUSSELL A WILLSON. lVitnesses A. E. RUSSELL, E. L. VAND ESAR.

by addressing .the :Gommissioner of Eatents,

Washington, 50.10. 

